Ink

Chapter 53

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Past

Cleo Nixon was not the smart sister. Neither was she the most loved, or the prettiest.

She was simply, the sister.

If you wanted to get really specific with it, she was sister to Alliana Nixon. The child protogee.

How bloody wonderful was that?

What most people did not know was that she was also the eldest sister. The eldest. Not that anyone cared, because she wasn't the one solving advanced math problems.

A girl could only take so much pity. Especially from her parents, who assumed the reason she wasn't as gifted was because she was otherwise suffering mentally.

They weren't wrong, but still, she wanted to be regarded as a regular member of the family and not an outsider.

The only problem was that would never happen. So why did she continue to hope things would ever be different? It beat her.

Enough of her depressing childhood of neglect and deep-seeded anger—

Let's get to the interesting part, shall we?

When Cleo joined the rebellion.

Well—she supposed she hadn't really joined it. It was more like a volunteer opportunity she didn't really think would happen until she was given her first assignment.

She hadn't really taken them seriously at first. How could she? The man that had shown up and declared himself an informant of the resistance was a palace official. What was his name again?

He was well dressed—she had definitely remembered that.

Her friends had told her that he was the real deal.

Whatever that meant.

Now that she thought about it, her friends were pretty naive. What if he had been lying? She supposed it didn't matter that much now.

The mission she had received was quite—underwhelming: isolate yourself from your family and friends. It was in effort to prove that she was serious about joining the resistance. One she completed the task she would be ready for extraction.

All she wanted was to get out of Illinkus. One thing that the informant didn't know was that she had been isolating herself her whole life. This assignment was child's play.

She had expected more from the so called resistance that sought out to end the monarchy of Illinkus.

Nonetheless, she proceeded to ignore as instructed. Further creating a rift between her and her family.

She had really played it up.

The food went first. She decided that staying in her room would be a better way to get her message across. When they paid no mind to that, because her mother had actually complimented her on losing weight, she began to skip feedings. Without blood, her body would not only lose weight, but also it's essence. She would deteriorate right before their eyes. They had to notice then. Right?

They definitely noticed.

Her mother's positive comments about her weight loss soon dissipated. Which was saying something, because her mother hardly showed concern for anything except her features.